How to Get 500,000 Impressions for Only 15¢

How much are you willing to pay for a new lead? Andrew Cooney paid everything he had in his pocket.

It was the best 15 cents he ever spent (ok, 15 cents is an estimate). All he did was put money in an expired parking meter. That 15 cents got him 500,000 impressions in one day.

A Good Idea is All You Need

The idea is simple. It’s also genius. Andrew Cooney is an insurance agent for Farmer’s Insurance in Rochester, Minnesota, and he came up with a great way to generate new leads.

He pays expired parking meters for strangers and leaves a note on their car with his business card attached. The note reads, "I paid your parking meter for you... Imagine what else I'm willing to do to protect your car."

One of the lucky recipients of Mr. Cooney’s marketing campaign posted this to Imgur, and it was quickly picked up on by Reddit, Mashable, and even by us here at BizTraffic.

The Imgur post has 520,131 views. That’s over a half a million people who now know that Andrew Cooney from Farmer’s Insurance in Rochester, Minnesota is the greatest insurance agent of all time.

You can’t buy that kind of press.

Actually, you can. It costs around 15 cents.

Problem Solver

We talk a lot here at BizTraffic about how solving people’s problems is the basis for marketing.

While we don’t have any proof that Mr. Cooney has read our posts and taken them to heart, he is certainly putting our plan into action.

He went out there and started solving people’s problems.

Sure, he might have skipped over the first stage of the buyer’s journey (you're forgiven, Andrew), but his tactic has two immediate effects:

It makes you wonder what your insurance agent has done for you lately, and

It makes you want to talk about Andrew Cooney.

Maybe you’ve got a few months left on your current policy, but when that next bill comes guess who’s going to be front of mind?

Going Viral can Save You 15% or More on Your Car Insurance

Here we see the positive aspects of that (finally) - half a million impressions from a picture posted by a stranger does a pretty good job of branding.

Sure, social media marketing can have a tremendous effect on your bottom line, and every company should be using social media to connect with their customers, but often it’s something like this that really catches people’s attention.

All it takes is a great idea. That’s the real lesson here, and the real benefit of social media.

You can make a video with a huge budget, a big star, and the best intentions and then see the whole thing blow up in your face (we’re looking at you, Pepsi), or you can spend a few cents and leave your card.

Make an Impression

In the end, people want to see something authentic, something real. And it doesn’t hurt to be clever about it.

That’s what makes an impression, that’s what builds relationships with clients, and that’s what maintains those relationships over time.

Do something for your customers, care about them, help them solve their problems, and they’ll reward you with their business.